Johnny "Keys" Simone fro Philly

What was the story behind him getting whacked out?

He got whacked with his shoes off, it kind of went down the same way as in Witness To The Mob. It was a message to his wife that he was killed by the mob and not by others.

Yeah, but why did he get whacked?

Castellano double crossed him.

Yeah, I got the movie and I seen it a million times too. But who did he support or not support in Philly? And who was his friend in Cleveland too?

In March 1980, longtime Philadelphia boss, Angelo Bruno, was assassinated by his consigliere, Antonio Caponigro, without authorization from The Commission. The Commission summoned Caponigro to New York, where it sentenced him to death for his transgression. After Caponigro was tortured and killed, Philip Testa was installed as the new Philadelphia boss and Nicodemo Scarfo as consigliere. The Commission subsequently placed contracts on Caponigro's co-conspirators, including John "Johnny Keys" Simone, who also happened to be Bruno's cousin. The Simone contract was given to Gravano. After befriending Simone through a series of meetings, Gravano, with the assistance of Liborio Milito and D'Angelo, abducted Simone from Skyview country club near Robbinsville airport (part of suburban Trenton, New Jersey) and drove him to a wooded area on Staten Island. Gravano then granted Simone's requests to die with his shoes off, in fulfillment of a promise he had made to his wife, and at the hands of a made man. After Gravano removed Simone's shoes, Milito shot Simone in the back of the head, killing him. Gravano later expressed admiration for Simone as a so-called "man's man," remarking favorably on the calmness with which he accepted his fate. Gravano earned praise from Paul Castellano for the killing.

His friend from Cleveland was John Tronolone.

Simone went to florida and asked Tronolone to speak to Fat Tony Salerno on his behalf. But Salerno told Tronolone that Johnny Keys fate was sealed and then Tromolone bullshitted Simone and told him everything was taken care of so Keys returned to NY and a few days later he was hit by Gravano and his guys.

Here you go. From a case in 1986, US v Salerno

http://www.ipsn.org/court_cases/us_v_salerno_631_fsupp_1364.htm

The government proffered that according to another prospective witness, Angelo Lonardo, Salerno and the Genovese Family issued a "contract" in 1980 to kill John Simone who was also known as Johnny Keyes. The "contract" arose out of the murder of Angelo Bruno, [**8] the former head of the LCN family in Philadelphia. Salerno contacted one John Tronolone and asked him to pass out the word that there was a "contract" on the life of Johnny Keyes and others. While in Florida, Tronolone told Lonardo that if Keyes shows up then the "contract" should be fulfilled. Lonardo at the time was the head of the Cleveland LCN family that reported to the Genovese Family in New York and Tronolone was its [*1368] "consigliere" who, in effect reported to two bosses, Salerno and Lonardo. Johnny "Keyes" Simone asked Tronolone for his assistance in settling the matter. However, Tronolone lied to Keyes in saying that he would try to settle his dispute with Salerno. Tronolone told Lonardo that instead he would go to New York to see Salerno to set Keyes up. After speaking to Salerno, Tronolone told Lonardo that he would now tell Keyes to travel to New York and that everything was okay. Keyes went to New York to see Salerno and was killed with three bullets in the head. Later Tronolone explained to Lonardo that he had set Keyes up. T. 16-18.

Nicely articulated and summed up, thanks!

Yes, Thank you for all the information. That explains it for me.

And I guess this is another example of the Gambinos (Castellano) & Genoveses(Salerno under the Chin) working together during that time period...

shame about keys, that is what is wrong with the mob, he followed orders from funzi,thinking they had the o.k. then they kill them.. look what they left...scarfo..who kills everyone..

goes to show you can't trust anybody in that life, one reason I don't defend that lifestyle like I used to.

from the way Gravano described Simone in his book the guy was oldschool lcn and Gravano had a lot of respect for him. but keys got clipped for being in on the angelo bruno hit

I agree. It is actually a pretty sad scenario.

also scarfo heard wrongly that simone was aligned with the gambinos as he was seen with gravano which was a chance meeting. scarfo was furious n suspected gambinos of backing him. he demanded death to prove they werent.

Basically Simone was apart of the assassination of Bruno. Tony Caponigro Frank Sindone and Simone were all killed because of that. As others have said Simone was killed by Gravano and his crew and Gravano had respect for him for going out like a man

JCrusher nailed it on the head that sums it up.

Johnny Keys got killed because after Bruno got clipped, he was still trying to seize power from Phil Testa. This guy Keys admitted to being responsible for about 50 hits! No wonder Little Nicky had his antenna up. A capo like that had to be removed immediately in order to maintain control.

This is why so many people that mean anything in the life don't think about Nick Scarfo like regular folks .

Guys in the life one time or a other have felt what the top guys were feeling in Philly for a long time , and why Nick was not looked at like taking out two many guys .

The guys in the life know the lies deceit " and the backstabbing ,that is every fuckin day in that life.

Guys with tons of body's on them coming for you" and you " don't know what guy it is !!!

So true! Hey Serp, do you have more insight about Nick The Blade. I know it's off topic but his story is so often overlooked.

Blade was a good dude and good neighbor, he would look out for the many single mothers in the neighborhood, and in a good way .

He liked to drink every day unless he was dry or on a forced dry cos of to many on a regular basis .

He lived in a modest house down an alley on Arctic Avenue across from Texas Avenue school and was liked and feared the same.


I was always surprised how close him and Phil were , just a strange relationship guys from opposite ends of the life .

Is it a coincidence there are a lot of kids who look like Nick "The Blade" in the neighborhood?

Opposite ends? What do you mean Serp... I thought him and Phil were too of the most feared hitters in the Family! Unless you know something I don't lol (I value your insight btw) 😎

They were " but Phil was the silver spoon type , and Blade was street all the way . Blade worked in the restaurant business anywhere from maître d" to bus person .

It all depended on if he was sober when hired .... he would get a maître d' job and blow it !! He would be out of work and then get bad . Something bad would happen one night or day and Nick would yell at him or other and he would bounce back .

But him and Phil were totally opposite but in the same business Phil genuinely liked Blade!

Read Sammy Gravano's book. He talks about it in detail.

Read Sammy The Bulls story, he did lie about somethings, the details about it shows a lot of truth.

It was the first book I ever read on American cosa nostra, still my favorite.

Interesting how Cleveland " answered to New York", the Genovese in particular.

As stated above, while Gravanos book definitley embelishes his ego and surely re writes a bit of history.... It seems pretty plausible that what he wrote about Simone is exactly what happened. Dunno for sure but its prob been corraborated by other rats too

Maybe BUT Sammy also takes the opportunity to "pat himself on the back" on the job he did. he says that Paul basically was in awe on how he did the hit. he also claimed that Johnny Keys told him that he was the only guy ever to outsmart in the mob life

Simone wasn't spotted meeting with Gravano but two Jersey guys in Aurello's crew. Nicky Russo and " pal Joey".

Bit of a back story involving an NJ Irish mob led by a Frankie Steele.
Steele was apparently killed on Scarfo's orders.

Any info on Steele? Pal Joey?

This link below can tell you about "Steele." Sammy got his nick name wrong...it's "Stale" and he didn't lead an Irish group.

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1981.html

I've never been able to find out who Pal Joey was. Could be Joseph Costello (who was a Philly guy from Trenton). Not sure that's him as it seems the Gambinos were taking care of the hit.

Edit: Pal Joey was most likely Joseph Farinella who operated Pal Joey's restaurant in Trenton.